Exploration Development Work (BC)
What is Exploration Development Work?
Exploration and development work is defined in section 1 of the Mineral Tenure Act Regulation as either physical exploration and development or technical exploration and development.
"Physical exploration and development" includes:
if the work is related to a mineral claim, any of the following:
- trenching, open cuts, adits, pits, shafts and other underground activity for the purposes of collecting samples or other geological or technical information;
- reclamation related to exploration and development activities;
- ground control surveys, line cutting and grids that support an activity described in paragraphs (b) to (h) of the definition of technical exploration and development;
- precision survey techniques such as global positioning or surveys conducted by a practising land surveyor;
if the work is related to a placer claim, any of the following:
- activities referred to in paragraph (a);
- panning, digging or washing of gravels to test for the presence of economically significant minerals;
"Technical exploration and development" for mineral claims and placer claims includes:
- archaeological impact assessments;
- geological surveys and studies;
- mineral resource or ore reserve calculations and related work;
- geophysical surveys;
- geochemical surveys;
- drilling, including drilling for the purposes of collecting samples, core logging or other geological or technical information;
- analysis of mineral or rock samples including a bulk sample to assess characteristics pertinent to the assessment of the mineral resource, including acid base accounting, metallurgical, mineralogical, beneficiation and petrological studies;
- prospecting and exploring;
- environmental baseline studies;
- construction and maintenance of roads, trails, helicopter landing sites, drill sites and drill core storage if required to support an activity described in any of paragraphs (b) to (i);
- preparation and geological interpretation of air photo, satellite or other remotely sensed images that support an activity described in paragraphs (a) to (i);
- preparation of orthophoto and topological surveys that support an activity described in paragraphs (a) to (i);
- compilations of previous exploration and development studies and reports if those compilations lead to new exploration and development;
- any other similar activity that may be approved by the chief gold commissioner before the exploration and development is done;
Registration of exploration and development work
This is a two-step process:
- Registering the work in MTO
- Submitting the work report to mineral titles
Registering the work
You can register work on one or more claims in one statement of work (SOW) event in Mineral Titles Online (MTO), as long as the claims are contiguous (adjoining).
Leases or crown grants can be used to make your claim contiguous; however, work performed on a lease or crown grant may not be filed on the claim(s).
One report is required for a work program, regardless of the number of claims. The Mineral Tenure Act Regulation outlines registering exploration and development for a claim.
Submitting the work report
Physical work report submissions are required 30 days from the date of registration of work in MTO. The Physical Work Report Form, along with a location map of the work performed will need to be submitted.
Technical work report submissions are required 90 days from the date of registration of the work in MTO. Schedule A of the Mineral Tenure Act Regulation sets out the guidelines for reporting exploration and development work, section 16 sets out the reporting requirements for technical report submissions.
While your technical assessment report is still submitted to the Mineral Titles office, the Geologic Survey Branch accepts digital data files (spreadsheets, databases, maps, grids) used or created for the technical work in an assessment report.
